Ann Hershberger

“My desire is to connect student learning needs with needs in the local and global community so as to create the space for sacred conversations, mutual transformation, lifelong learning, and joyful, faithful, living.”

Ann Graber Hershberger has worked in family health, community health, international health, and nursing education since 1976. Ann and her husband Jim, director of Church World Service Harrisonburg Refugee Resettlement Program, have spent 10 years in church sponsored service in Central America. She earned her PhD from the University of Virginia; completing a dissertation entitled “A case study of relationships between Nicaraguan non-governmental health organizations, communities served, donor agencies, and the Ministry of Health.” She spent the 1999-2000 academic year in Nicaragua researching the project. Other research includes the experiences of families in Guatemala and West Bank, Palestine who have hosted EMU Cross Cultural students over the last decades. She has been a consultant for a Nursing School in Nicaragua, and has been on various boards of MCC (Mennonite Central Committee) since 1997, and is currently the chair of MCC U.S. Mother of three adult children, grandmother of three, she enjoys speaking Spanish, reading, gardening, and sitting on her porch.

Hershberger, A. (2004). Carrying Tortillas into the Ivory
Tower and Theories into Mud Houses; Connecting
Competing Realities Along the Path of Service. In
Development to a Different Drummer. 85-96. Good
Books.

Hershberger, A. (2004) Enhancing our Mentoring Culture:
A position statement and strategic plan for Student
Advising and Mentoring at Eastern Mennonite
University. Written for the Lilly Project Mentoring
workshops.

Practical Peacemaking: Restorative justice approaches for families in community.Presentation at the International Institute for Islamic Studies in Qom, Iran. February, 2014.

Difficult Conversations Involving Major Trust Barriers An all day workshop for the Ethics Consultation Core Curriculum Practical Session at Bon Secours Health Care System in Richmond, Virgina, September 18, 2012.

More with less: Using a developing case study to teach informatics and epidemiology Peer review podium presentation at American Association of Colleges of Nursing Master’s Conference. March 1-3, 2012. San Antonio, TX.

Scarcity results in strength: Degree collaboration and interprofessionality.Peer review podium presentation at American Association of Colleges of Nursing Master’s Conference. March 1-3, 2012. San Antonio, TX.

Challenges in Education: Developing a Nursing Conceptual
Framework Consistent with the Mission of a Christian University. Co-presented with Arlene Wiens. Doctoral Alumni Scholarship Day, University of Virginia.March, 2005.

Four session series on Medical Ethics.Beldor Mennonite Church, Elkton, VA. July and August, 2005.

Planned and led Workshop for EMU Global Village Shared Curriculum Teaching Teams. August 2005.

A Sacred Covenant: Nursing in the context of Micah 6:8. Co-presented with Don Tyson. Mennonite Health Assembly, San Francisco, 2004.

April 14, 2014. Presentation “A life of connecting with the poor” at New Community Place, Harrisonburg, VA.

2010. Director for for GrandAides community health worker grant funded project of EMU/Harrisonburg Community Health Center.

2009-10. Planning group member and grant reviewer for Health Care for the Homeless project in Harrisonburg. Start up date: January 2011.

2001-present. Harrisonburg Rockingham Health Community Council (HCC). 2002-2004 – Member of subcommittee to shape the indicators and determine follow-up for the Community Assessment; 2006- 2007. Present. Member of Summit planning committee and Health Access task force

Regional/National Professional Service
2015 Reviewed twenty two abstracts for the APHA Annual meeting for IH and PHN sections.